by Juno Wells
Griggs couldn't help but laugh, and punched his side just to convey how gross it had been. She should have just barfed on his boots. That would teach him.
Vrix
Vrix wanted to pick Griggs up and carry her. From the moment she woke up, all sleepy and soft and grumbly, he'd had a difficult time controlling the impulse to care for her. He wanted to wrap her up somewhere warm and safe, and he could go out into the world to defeat her enemies and solve all her problems. He loved that he fed her breakfast, and would feed her the rest of the day as well. He took every chance to touch her, though he gauged her reaction to make sure he wasn't too overbearing.
He loved her hair down around her shoulders, all wild and curly and out of control. A little like the woman herself. The severe buns and braids that left her skin tight around her eyes didn't do her any favors, but he understood why maybe she didn't want the long auburn hair in her face all the time. It drew a great deal of attention everywhere they went, and for a person like Griggs, who valued her anonymity and privacy, that wasn't welcome scrutiny. He could have watched her forever, though.
Vrix could picture her in the desert of Xarav, the three suns setting behind her, setting her beautiful hair alight, and outlining her perfect curves in blinding gold. It made his hearts ache with longing. He didn't know how long he could survive being around her if she didn't want to be his. He might need to get his own spaceship faster than planned if Griggs crushed him and left him to mourn.
She seemed deep in thought as they wandered through the nicer market area, and was distracted enough that he laced his fingers through hers and she didn't pull away. Vrix counted it a victory. Maybe the trick to getting her to relax was to feed her awful alien dishes. Not that he'd want to kiss her much after eating worms.
A beautiful cafe took up most of an intersection between three streets, with large tables and umbrellas and a menu that promised something slightly more appetizing than the worm soup he ordered Griggs at the last place. Vrix led the way there and chose a table near the back, shielded by a few other empty tables.
It was a testament to how discombobulated Griggs actually was that she didn't fight him for the chair with the best view of the street, and instead she sank into the chair he pulled out, right next to his. Vrix wondered if perhaps she took the Tyluk's warning about her demeanor to heart and decided to assume the meek nature of a slave, but he didn't think so. A waiter came around and sniffed when he saw Vrix's barbarian clothes, but the pouch of money Vrix tossed on the table encouraged the asshole to act a little more deferential when he brought their drinks and a few trays of snacks.
When the waiter retreated, Vrix nudged Griggs to get her attention. "Eat something. You look a little shaky."
"I'm not shaky," she said, an automatic rebuttal that reassured him a little that she was just distracted and not somehow dying from that warm worm milkshake. "I'm thinking."
"Then think out loud so I can understand what we should do next." Vrix stretched out in the chair, glad it was reinforced for some of the larger species and didn't immediately creak under his weight, and picked at some of the exotic nut pastries that covered the table. "I have my theories, but fill me in on what's going on between those ears."
He tugged on a lock of her hair, since he didn't stand a chance of finding her ear through the wild curls, and prepared for a sharp rebuke. But she just frowned at him and brushed at her hair, trying to keep it out of her face, then sighed heavily. "I don't like the idea of going to that club. I don't like the idea of meeting that guy tomorrow morning in a place of his choosing. I'm not even sure I like the idea of going back to that store again. Everything feels like an ambush. I don't know how people do this kind of work."
"It takes a very specific kind of personality," Vrix said slowly.
He thought Trazzak spent a bit of time in the intelligence corps, and got out because he didn't like the long and lonely hours, the lies he told to his friends and family, and the necessity of screwing over people who'd come to rely on him. Whoever Griggs's friend was who gave her the contacts had a lot of pressure on their shoulders. He rubbed his jaw and put a few pastries on her plate. She needed to eat more. A lot more.
"There are some people well-suited to it, some people who can do it for a short time, and people who are simply not meant for that kind of work. And that's fine. But we're in the middle of it now, so I don't think we can back out completely. We have to see it through to the end," he said.
"I'd prefer if we could get back to skulking in alleyways and finding dead bodies under garbage," she said under her breath, studying the pastries more closely. "Instead of sneaking around meeting people we don't know. Are you absolutely positive there are no worms in these?"
"Yes." He took a big bite out of one of the pastries, though the amount of sugar hurt his teeth in a sudden shock, just to prove they were safe to eat. Vrix fiddled with the coffee and tea, searching for anything remotely Xaravian, and debated how much to push his preferred agenda—since she was the mission leader, after all. "I think the costume shop is a good first step, while we sort out what else we want to do today and how aggressive we want to be with these Slasu. I'll go with you, because that Tyluk was right about you standing out too much for safety, but I can go outside for some reason so you can speak with them privately."
Griggs nodded, drumming her fingers on the table. "Maybe you can call the ship. See if they've discovered anything useful."
"Good idea." Vrix also wanted to find out if Frrar made any progress on fixing the transporter, so they didn't end up dead and inside out if they tried to use it. "We need to get a good lunch and I need to speak with Pyix at the hotel again about a few things. He'll be able to give me some information on the guy the Tyluk mentioned, so we know more before we go to the club. If we go to the club."
Griggs sniffed the coffee before sipping, eyeing him sideways with a hint of challenge, and Vrix started to grin. He couldn't help himself. He'd have to keep a close eye on any food she handled, in case he ended up with payback for the worm trick. He needed a good chunk of time with Pyix to explain everything and get good feedback on the Tyboli, and to discuss the need for backup if anything went wrong on their trip to the club. Pyix, as the de facto chief of the Xaravians on Caihiri, would be able to muster all the warriors to his aid when needed. He'd also be the guarantee that Griggs would get safely off the planet regardless of what happened with Vrix.
He set those thoughts aside for later, as well as the troubling comment about the price to pay to enter the Slasu club. Vrix didn't like the sound of that—since there was no telling who would pay the price, him or Griggs. She looked concerned enough already that he didn't want to bring it up. Instead, he pushed more food on her plate and refilled her coffee. "Tell me something, Cecily."
She made a face the moment he said her first name, and Vrix filed that away for another conversation, perhaps after a few shots of Xarav liquor. "Maybe, if you don't call me Cecily again."
"How did you end up with your previous organization?" He sipped his coffee and studied her. "I am always curious how people get pulled into that life."
Her eyebrow arched, but her gaze got very far away, and Vrix held his breath for a hell of a story. She looked vulnerable for just long enough that he wanted to squeeze her hand, but something changed and the stoic mask returned. After a long silence, she attempted a smile, though it looked like it might crack her face into pieces. "I guess it was the only place I could beat people up and get paid for it."
He didn't believe her for a second. But an open-air cafe wasn't really the place for great emotional catharsis, so he leaned back and played along. "Of course. That makes sense. Have you heard of the Intergalactic Battle League?"
"The what?" She perked up, absently mowing through two more pastries as she watched the various aliens going about their business on the street. "That sounds really official."
"It's more underground than official," he said. "They're organized fights on a tiered system, a
nd each year the tournaments lead to a single female and a single male champion. There's an initial buy-in, but the later prize money is significant."
"Like, professional fighting?" Griggs sneezed as a wind kicked up and her hair tangled in her face, and for a moment she was distracted by the curls and not getting them in her coffee or the sticky pastries. She muttered and shot him a dirty look when he chuckled, though Vrix had his own problems with long hair—and Griggs didn't even have feathers and bones in hers.
"It's gotten more mainstream, but it was vicious in the early years. All underground, no rules, any species." He rubbed his mouth to cover a smile. "You could make pretty good money. Now, it's a little more refined and they started the female league. You should look into it. It might be a good sport for you."
"So pirates are allowed to compete?" Her smile twisted when she said it, so Vrix would know that she still didn't like the label. "Doesn't that make it easier for the bounty hunters to find you?"
Vrix shook his head and gestured for the waiter to bring him a box. "There's immunity once you reach a certain level. They know you're at the fight, but they're not allowed to arrest you for a certain number of hours afterward. I don't think the Alliance adheres to that, though, so it's possible the Fleet would break up the fight just to catch... some people."
And they both knew the women from the Argo fell into that category.
Griggs attempted another smile, this one more genuine. "I guess we'll save that for when I'm ready to throw caution to the wind."
"Or you've got a hell of a disguise and a new identity," he said. Vrix gathered the package and offered it to her. "Normally I would carry it, but around here, you probably should."
"Fine, but that means I get to eat them all later." Griggs pulled her Xarav robe a little tighter and made an irritated noise. "I can't wait to get off this planet."
Vrix scowled at a Caihiri native who stared a little too long at Griggs, and pulled her close to his side as they started back to the dodgy part of town. He couldn't agree more.
Griggs
Griggs wouldn't have minded staying at the cafe and basking in the sun for another few hours, but they had too much work to do. She still felt the clock ticking away on Heidi's possibility of survival, and Griggs knew they couldn't delay approaching the ladies at the costume shop or the Slasu. Her skin crawled just thinking about dealing with the Slasu slavers, since she much preferred to face her enemies head-on, instead of sneaking around and pretending to be someone else entirely. They were in for a rude surprise if any of the Slasu confronted her directly.
Vrix fell back into his barbarian slave-owner role as they approached the costume shop, and he stomped up the stairs to shove the door open. Three faces popped up from behind the counter in the back of the store, then all three women fluttered around to smile and fawn over Vrix.
"Welcome back, welcome back. You could not get these lovely outfits out of your mind, could you?"
He managed a smile and squeezed Griggs's shoulder. "Blue. Something in blue."
The women practically chirped in excitement and started to hustle Griggs once more toward the back, one of the ladies picking up every blue outfit they could find, but they paused as Vrix grumbled and held up his communicator. "I have business to address. I'll be outside. Call me when she's in something worth seeing."
"Of course, of course," the tallest one said, patting Griggs's hand, and they all watched as Vrix disappeared back out the door to the weak sunlight outside.
The moment the door closed behind him, the mood in the store changed dramatically. The three space chickens surrounded her and hustled her toward the back. "You got our note?"
"Y-yes," Griggs said. It seemed like she blinked and they once more had her disrobed and suddenly wearing a layered blue sequined outfit, all the while clucking to each other and rattling around behind the counter. "What exactly did you mean, you can make me disappear?"
The tallest female nodded over and over, tossing a few handfuls of fabric at one of her colleagues. "Oh yes. My name is Thula, and there is my sister Bula, and our cousin Mirti. We find people who need a change and help them start over somewhere else. Somewhere far away."
The other two chanted, "Far away, far away," in a mild chorus.
"Thula, Bula, and Mirti," Griggs repeated, trying to keep up. They were like a whirlwind of motion and sound and total chaos, though it all seemed to coalesce at the right moment into something intelligible. "Are you…do you help women escape?"
"We do, we do." She thought it was Mirti who spoke, since she had a blueish cast to her gray skin and the sleek feathers along her shoulders. Mirti blinked her coal-black eyes quickly as she looked up at Griggs. "You looked like you need to escape. You still carry yourself like a free woman, so it would be very easy to integrate you back into a safe place, a better city. Very easy. Get you off the planet and away from this. From him."
Griggs sucked in a breath as feathers brushed her midriff and she nearly hollered in surprise and a little bit from being tickled. "You help women reintegrate, after something like this?"
Thula, with more feathers near her neck and longer arms, fluttered to the front of the shop to check the windows, then hustled back. "Oh yes, oh yes. Some of the girls have been broken down and beaten so long they can't understand freedom again. It is very difficult, yes indeed, very difficult to get them out. They're afraid. But you are not, it is easy to see."
"Easy to see, easy to see," repeated Mirti, handing Griggs a tasseled hat.
Griggs's mind raced trying to keep up, and she finally held her hands up. "Wait. This isn't exactly what it looks like."
All three stopped in their tracks and turned bright black eyes on her. Bula's feathers ruffled a little. "What isn't?"
"I'm not really a slave." She knew she shouldn't trust them with the secret and the mission, but if the women helped get former slaves off the planet, they might know more about the Slasu and where Heidi would end up. "This is…a friend of mine disappeared on this planet a couple of days ago, and I'm here with my friend to find her. Vrix is a good man—he's playing the part so we don't draw any more attention to ourselves."
They blinked, staring at her, and Griggs slowly reached for one of the robes to cover herself a little more. She didn't like her boobs hanging out under that kind of scrutiny. Just in case someone decided to get peckish. "I'm sorry we deceived you, but we didn't see another way to find my friend."
Mirti's blue-gray feathers rustled and she put her hands on her ample hips. "A good plan. A nice plan. But you still will draw too much attention. Beautiful girl in beautiful clothes. It's very dangerous, this plan."
"Oh yes, oh yes," the other two chimed in, and Griggs bit her lip to keep from smiling. Definitely space chickens.
She nodded and eased to sit on a convenient stool. "When I saw your note, I hoped you might be able to help me find her. If you know how to find people who need help, maybe you can find her and make it a little easier for us to get out of here before the danger becomes more real."
Thula's head bobbed and she hustled back to the counter to get something to write on. "Tell us. Oh yes. Tell us more about her. We can find her."
"There's a new Slasu ring, apparently." Griggs took a deep breath. "We're searching for more of them tonight, and I can give you that information if you want, so you can help those women."
Bula blinked and blinked, sidling closer to Griggs. "Oh yes. We will find a way."
Griggs described Heidi, hoping that perhaps they'd already seen her or heard of her, but none of the ladies recognized her description. It felt like another defeat, like Heidi slipped a little farther away, but Griggs brushed the feeling aside. As much as the ladies wanted to help her, she wanted to help them.
She wondered what Vrix was doing outside, and hoped he was able to speak with someone on the Galaxos to figure out any more information they might need. But Griggs lowered her voice anyway. "I used to be a Fleet officer, but not anymore. There is a great deal of co
rruption and betrayal there. I and six other female officers left and have gotten our own ship. We're growing a pirate crew so we can help others. We might be able to assist in transporting women, or giving them jobs on the ship, or something, if you need some help from off the planet."
Mirti clucked in excitement. "That would be wonderful. Wonderful. We have some difficulty getting the women off the planet with safe transportation. It is hard to find captains to trust. Very hard."
Griggs nodded; she completely understood. She wasn't sure she'd be trusting another captain for a long, long time. "I'll figure out a way for you to get in contact with us, if you need it. We're staying over at Pyix's hotel, with the rest of the Xaravians. If we have to leave in a hurry, I'll make sure there's a message there for you."
The space chickens nodded and chuckled and fluttered with excitement. Thula reappeared from the counter with a small pouch of money, chortling as she offered it to Griggs. "We thought that barbarian had too much money, since you would be a very expensive lady to keep, so we overcharged him a great deal."
"A great deal," Mirti chortled, fluttering around as she stuffed a few costumes into a large bag. "Oh my, a very great deal."
"Here is some of his money back," Thula said. "So you can—"
"Keep it," Griggs said. She stepped back, not wanting to take the money. "You need it. Help more women with it. Please. It's the least we can do."
The chickens blinked at her, then Bula gave her an enthusiastic hug. "Oh my, oh my. Very kind of you. We can help many women with this. Thank him for us."
"Oh, I will." Griggs smiled, ready to get moving since she'd spent more time inside than she planned, and she didn't want Vrix to assume the women kidnapped her and made an escape. "I should go..."
"Take this, take this." Mirti pushed the large bag into Griggs's arms and hopped toward the door, checking the windows to see who was outside. "These will be useful. Very useful."